教學方

燕 连福

韩 鹏杰

龚 建平

张 帆

妥 建清

李 重

邓 妙子

雒 自新

腳本

We have talked about that Zhuang Zi tells us from the perspective of ideology to observe the world according to Tao, such as the quality of things, equality of right and wrong, equality of life and death, equality, tolerance and optimism. Zhuang Zi gives us some specific examples and ways. What is the aim these specific ways to reach? So I’ll say another great contribution that Zhuang Zi has made in our culture and philosophy. It is that Tao exists everywhere. Someone may ask: Where is it? “It is on the way,” Zhuang Zi answered. Can you say it specifically? Tao is on tiles. Can you say it more specifically? It is in urine and excrement. How strange the man is! What’s matter? What you said is more and more ridiculous. Zhuang Zi said: “do you see a pig?” If you want to whether a pig is fat or not, you can go to see its leg. and then you will be clear. Now we suddenly realize what Zhuang Zi said is very reasonable. If you go to hospital, what should be tested? What are tested is similar to the reflection of the essence of this question. Tao is everywhere. What is it if we express it in a poetic way? It is that one drip of water can reflect the brilliance of the sun. We can see the Great Tao from trivial things. So Zhuang Zi gives us three ways to see the whole through trivial things. The first is practicing qi gong. When you can breathe from your heels, you can reach the state. It is called that sages breathe from heels. It is not reliable. Who can breathe from the heels? When we learn from the ancients, we should inherit the good and skip the bad. So it needn’t talk about it in detail. I’ll give you another example. It is a well known story from The Preservation of Life. In The Preservation of Life, Zhuang Zi tells us a story: Dismemberment of Ox by Paoding. There was a chef whose name was Paoding. When he dismembered an ox, he was like an artist. He could see through parts and joints of an ox without cutting, and handle a butcher's cleaver skillfully. The sound was like music, and his postures was like dance Prince of Wenhui was amazed at his actions, so he asked the chef. How could you do this? So Paoding told him: “I have devoted myself to Tao, and close to it through skills”. I like Tao. It is the state of freedom. But how could I reach it? Through the specific skills. It is called “close to Tao through skills” I’ll Introduce you a person: Dewey an American philosopher, is Hu Shi’s teacher and a well known representative of pragmatism. He is very influential in the world. as he wrote an book Art as Experience. Arts are the perfect experiences. You are good at car repairing, You are good at mowing, You are good at video, No matter what you do, You do it skillfully, then you reach the state of art. Everyone can be an artist. People may feel happy. No matter what we do, even if cooking and the like, we can reach the state of Tao. What Dewey says is very philosophic and profound. But when we look back, we will find our Zhuang Zi talked about the idea deeply and profoundly 2000 years ago. No matter what you do, it belongs to the level of skills. But if we can do it very well, we can see the whole through trivial things, and reach the state of Tao. There is Tao of growing flowers and playing chess. Of course there is Tao of cooking. It is not only popular in art, but also in management. Management is not only a skill, but also an art, which can also reach the state of Tao. This is the second way Zhuang Zi gives us. closing to Tao through skills, which is excellent. The third way Zhuang Zi gives us by telling another story, which I mentioned at the beginning of the class. This story is in the chapter of Evidence of a Full Character What kind of men does he tell in this story? Someone who was born without legs. Someone whose shoulders are higher than their head. Someone has a big tumor on the back. We originally call them deformed Then we feel it not good, so we call them disabled. In fact it is not proper either. The two words are derogatory terms, so they are called disorders abroad. I think it’s all right. as they do not think they are deformed. The shape of our bodies was given by God, why call us deformed? We are not deformed. So they pay no attention to their appearance, While pay more attention to the cultivation of their personality. With time goes by, people will forget their deformities and begin to like their internal spirit and wisdom. So it is the third part which can be summarized into one sentence: With the accumulation of virtue. the outward form will be forgotten If you enrich your internal spirit world,, the outward form will gradually be forgotten. He reminds us we should not struggle with our outward form, but pay more attention to our internal world. With the accumulation of virtue. the outward form will be forgotten. OK, according to Zhuang Zi, Firstly, we should observe the world according to Tao. Secondly, the specific way of closing to Tao through skills. Then you will reach the state of independence, freedom and self-awareness— a happy excursion. OK That’s my interpretation of Zhuang Zi. You may forget what I talked about in class. But if you can carefully read Zhuang Zi’s works after class, that’s the most rewarding result of the class; At least, you can find more than 200 stories on the Internet. These stories have become idioms in our culture. All of these idioms are influential. Such as “lament one's littleness before the vast ocean”, “sit in a well and look at the heaven”, “concentrate one's attention (and energy) on something”, ‘three in the morning and four in the evening’ . We can also understand the thought of Chuangtse through reading these stories. That’s all for today. Bye!